Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-11
2003-05-20
Mizrahi, Diane D. (Department: 2175)
Data processing: database and file management or data structures
Database design
Data structure types
Reexamination Certificate
active
06567828
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a computer system, and more particularly to a file format conversion method for a file system which provides a user with information having a plurality of file formats. More specifically, the invention relates to a file format conversion method suitable for a plurality of computers to exchange over the world wide web (hereinafter called WWW) information having a plurality of file formats, and to a file system, various information processing systems, and an electronic commerce system respectively using the file format conversion method.
Prior to describing the related art, some terms will be described.
A computer system uses a “secondary storage unit” for preserving data even if the power of the computer is turned off. The secondary storage unit presently used is a hard disk, a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk, or the like.
A “file system” is software used for data exchange between a secondary storage unit and an application program (“application”). The unit of data a file system processes is called a “file”. Generally, a plurality of files are stored in one secondary storage unit, and each file is discriminated by a “file name”. A character string is often used as the file name. A file system is supplied in many cases to a user as part of an operating system (OS), or it is supplied in some cases as a combination of libraries and an OS or only as libraries. For example, software combining a file system supplied by an OS and a library adding an extension function to the file system is called a file system so long as it processes data exchange between a secondary storage unit and an application.
A file operation an application program (application) can perform is defined by an application program interface (API) between the application and file system. An API regarding a file input/output is called a “file input/output API”. The file input/output API includes an open (preparation for file read/write), a read (transfer of data from a file to an application), a write (transfer of data from an application to a file), and a close (end of file read/write). An API regarding the operation of a file and a directory is called a “file management API”. The file management API includes file formation, file name change, and file deletion. The file operation which can be realized by the file input/output API and file management API is collectively called a “file operation”.
The data structure of a file is called a “file format” (or simply “format”). Examples of the format include “array of character strings partitioned by a line feed character”, “array of items partitioned by a tab character”, “file format of word processor software A”, “array of frames (an image displayed at an instant) of a moving image”, and the like. The file format is represented in some cases by using last several characters of a file name. The last several characters of the file name are called an “extension”.
The related art will be described below.
A file presently used by a number of applications (such as a word processor, a spread sheet, a schedule management, an e-mail, and a programming tool) has a format specific to it. A personal computer widely used nowadays utilizes a variety of file formats totalling in number about 200. In the WWW prevailed upon developments of the Internet, not only characters, but also still images, moving images, sound, computer graphics are used with a various kind of file formats.
Generally, not all applications can access all file formats. Therefore, even if a user stores information in a file having a certain file format, the user is often required to perform a “file conversion” for the file in order to enable another application to access the file. A file as an input for the format conversion is called a “conversion originating file”, and a file as an output is called a “conversion destination file”.
The format conversion requires the tasks of (1) selecting a conversion program (or a combination of conversion programs) for performing a conversion desired by a user, from a number of “conversion programs” regarding a various kind of formats, and (2) correctly giving the selected conversion program with a conversion originating file and a conversion destination file and executing the conversion program at a proper timing. These tasks are not relevant to the works of a user performed on an application. It is therefore desired that a format conversion load on the user is reduced as much as possible. As described above, since the utilization of the Internet and WWW are rapidly increasing, there is a high need of processing a variety kind of formats as simply as possible.
The following methods have been proposed heretofore in order to simplify mainly the above task (1). In JP-A-6-187219, “Automatic Data Sharing Method between Programs” (hereinafter called Prior Art 1), a user designates an application and a file to be used, an application—data correspondence table is searched to select a proper conversion program, and the application performs the format conversion necessary for using the file.
The user is therefore released from the task (1), i.e., selecting a conversion program used for accessing the file. However, the task (2), i.e., designating that when the format conversion is performed for what file, is still required to be operated by the user. The reason for this is that a user is required to perform a work of designating and supplying the file to be converted and the application name to the system of Prior Art 1, although this work is not relevant to the essential work of the user to be performed on the application.
In a present computer system including the WWW, one application processes a plurality of file formats, and there are a plurality of applications which process only one file format. Under such circumstances, even if the application and the file name are designated, a particular conversion method cannot be determined. For example, consider the case there are three file formats discriminated by three extensions tex, .ps, and .pdf and a program A can process .ps and .pdf. In this case, even if a user designates the program A and a file foo.tex, it is not possible to definitely determine whether foo.tex is converted into foo.ps or foo.pdf.
In JP-A-9-69059, “File Format Conversion System (hereinafter called Prior Art 2), as a user designates a conversion originating file name and a conversion destination file name (or an application name using a conversion originating file and an application name using a conversion destination file), a conversion program or programs are selected, and the format conversion from the conversion originating file into the conversion destination file is executed. Therefore, the user is released from the task (1), i.e., selecting a conversion program or programs to be used for accessing the file. However, the user is required to perform the task (2), i.e., designating that when the format conversion is performed for what file, and this work load is still imposed upon the user.
As a method of automatically and collectively performing complicated file operation processes, software (hereinafter called Prior Art 3) is known which is described in MAKE Paragraph 1 of the document “4.4 BSD User's Reference Manual” written by University of California, Computer Systems Research Group (O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., 1994). Prior Art 3 discloses a method of simplifying a one-step or multi-step compile operation from a source program to a binary program. Also Prior Art (3) can solve the issue of the task (1), but the issue of the task (2) cannot be solved.
As described above, although there are many proposals, the conventional format conversion method does not consider the load of the task (2) upon a user. The task (2) can be further classified into two sub-tasks. (2-a) A task of designating that which file is used as the conversion originating file and which file is used as the conversion destination file. If this designation is missed, there is a danger that the contents of the conversio
Inohara Shigekazu
Kagimasa Toyohiko
Masuoka Yoshimasa
Min Jinghua
Noda Fumio
Antonelli Terry Stout & Kraus LLP
Mizrahi Diane D.
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